Parkville Loses Tough Battle to Milford Mill, 57-50

All year the players and coaches at Parkville knew that to have any chance of winning a Baltimore County title, they would have to beat the two-time defending county champion Milford Mill. For three quarters that chance looked very good, but the fourth and final quarter was once again the Knights' downfall.

Milford broke open a tight game by scoring 7 of the first 9 points in the fourth quarter to go ahead 49-41, a lead they would not relinquish on their way to the 57-50 victory in a highly contested Baltimore County 3A/4A matchup.

The victory for Milford (18-2), its 42nd straight regular season conference win, allows the Millers the chance to win their third straight county title on Friday evening when they host the 1A/2A division winner Owings Mills at 7 pm.

Duane Miller led the Millers with 15 points , but it was Isaiah McCray and Troy Parker in the second half who made the difference.

Parker scored all 9 of his points in the second half, and McCray scored 11 of his 14 in the second half, while also adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals.

Milford coach Al Holley was impressed with the way his two stars stepped. "Isaiah is a stalwart force for us and does what he does every night, while Troy really stepped up," Holley said. "Every game we preach that someone different needs to step up, and tonight Troy did."

Parkville (13-7) was led by its dominating inside force James Milton, who finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Jamal Williams chipped in with 9 points and 5 rebounds, while Skylar Collins added 7 points and 4 steals.

The first quarter was a tale of two runs as Parkville came out of the gates blazing and jumped out to a 10-0 lead, with all five starters getting in on the action. Milford finally got on the scorebaord with 3:24 left in the quarter when Nick Smoot came off the bench to hit a three-pointer. A three-point play by Miller capped a 10-0 run from Milford, and just like that it was all even at 10 apiece.

Parkville got another basket each from Williams and Milton to move ahead 14-11, before Tevin Hanner nailed a three at the buzzer, and at the end of one it was 14-14.

The game stayed tight throughout the middle periods as neither team led by more than 4 points, while there were six ties and 11 lead changes.

A steal and a layup by Collins gave Parkville a 20-16 lead, but Ryan Jackson countered with a three-pointer for Milford to get back to 20-19. Milton scored 4 straight for the Knights, then Miller scored 5 straight of his own to give Milford its first lead of the game at 24-23. When Dennis Hughes converted on a pass inside from Clive Edwards right before the buzzer sounded, the game was tied at 26 going into the break.

A three-pointer by Collins and Milton's strong inside post move pushed the Parkville lead up to 31-27 early in the third. Once again, the Millers had an answer as Miller scored 4 straight to tie things up at 31.

The lead went back and forth the rest of the quarter before Parker was able to close the third on a 4-0 scoring run to give Milford a 42-39 lead after three quarters.

After jumping out to the eight-point lead to start the fourth, Milford was able to hang on to it, despite 9 points from Milton in the fourth, by converting at the free throw line as they nailed 8 of 10 foul shots down the stretch.

Parkville coach Rod Norris is still waiting for his team to take that extra leap needed to win the close ones. "Tonight was really an outstanding and hard-fought game," Norris said, "but once again we just can't seem to make that one play to get us over the hump in a tight game. I have to give credit to the other team, because they did."

Holley thanked Parkville for giving his team the chance to pull out the win. "Honestly I think they stayed in that zone a little too long and it gave us a chance to finally figure it out and get some buckets," he said.

Parkville now has one game remaining—Wednesday at surging Perry Hall—before they get ready for the start of the MPSSAA playoffs next week, and another chance to knock off Milford Mill.